Come With You
by mar-isu
Summary: An overview of Mara's life. Finished! Review!
1. Palpatine

AN: This came out of looking at the last line of Last Command and Vision of the Future. Don't believe me? Look it up.

AN2: This entire piece is written, I just feel the need to break it up into chapters. I'll post twice a week or more often if I get enough reviews. (evil grin)

Disclaimer: I love Mara. But she belongs to Timothy Zahn and whoever he chooses to share her with. I am unfortunately not on that list, but Tim, (I can call you Tim, can't I?) I wouldn't say no if you asked, so please don't say no to me.

**Come With You**

"Mara!" Naomi's shriek drew the overly-serious child out of her musings and into action. With reflexes worthy of her father, Naomi's golden-haired treasure was up and running toward her mother leaving her cryptic message scrawled in the dust where she'd been playing. Naomi scooped the child into her arms as her husband, Aiden, came barreling out of the workshop.

"Naomi, what is it?" he asked gathering his distraught wife and her preternaturally calm child in a shielding embrace. He looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Not surprisingly, it was Mara who first identified the source of her mother's distress. "Da!" she squealed jabbing a small finger toward the now vanishing con-trail that heralded an approaching ship. The shuttle was just beginning to level out its flight over the tall grain fields. Even from a distance, the blazing markings of a Rep- Imperial, Aiden corrected himself, diplomatic courier were visible. "Bright ship," Mara cooed snuggling against her mother.

Naomi's eyes went wide with terror at her child's statement. "He's found us, Aiden," she whispered tears starting to well in her eyes washing out the green and sparking the gold to brilliant life. "He's found us and he'll think we're hiding him." Suddenly, the three year old clutched to her mother's breast was the calmest of the trio.

"Are we?" Aiden whispered furiously. If she was putting his family at risk to help an old love so help him . . .

"No Aiden," Naomi denied following his thoughts with her usual disturbing accuracy. "I would never put you or Mara at risk that way. Obi-Wan forgive me if I've done wrong, but I couldn't hide him." The whispered conversation came to a tremulous halt as the shuttle landed with a sigh.

Palpatine watched the little family grow larger in the veiwport. _Oh how touching,_ he sneered. It was without a single twinge of conscious that he intended to disrupt the tableau. Lord Vader had alerted him to the potential that lay hidden in this little patch of Alderaan. Now he saw the child, shining like a beacon. Young, moldable, yes she would serve her lord well. He turned attention to the two who surrounded his quarry in a net of sickening love. The father was dull as a rock, not even worth the effort to crush. The mother had some small talent of her own, but not enough to bother. That fool of a Viceroy, Organa, would object strenuously to the loss of even one farm family. One child, however, was less of a problem, especially if the parents knew the consequences of complaining.

With a bump, the shuttle touched down in the small patch of open space in front of the family dwelling. A nod of the head sent his personal guards parading down the ramp. Palpatine followed at a dignified pace. He glided toward the knot of people huddling in front of their door like so many snared birds, pausing only once to examine a child's meaningless scrawl in the dust. Meaningless to all but those who knew how to read it. There among the inane curlicues and stick figures were signs of a darker significance. "Sidious" the Sith-runes hissed. With a wave of Palpatine's hand, a small burst of wind erased the Sith script that had flowed from such an innocent hand.

"Good day," the Emperor called in the honeyed tones that had wooed more than one politician to their ruin.

Aiden Jade stepped away from his wife, partially shielding her and the child from Palpatine's jaundiced gaze. "Good day, Your Highness," he returned dispassionately, bowing. Behind him, Naomi dipped a curtsey, Mara still tightly bound to her mother's hip.

Suddenly, the girl shrieked in delight, small dustdaemons dancing around the feet of the Imperial Guards. Naomi, startled, set little Mara down. With unblinking serious green eyes Mara approached the most powerful man in the galaxy and knelt at his feet.

A triumphant smirk blossomed on the Emperor's face. "Such a clever child. How old?"

"Three, my lord," Naomi informed him going another shade paler. "Her name is Mara."

"Mara," Palpatine cooed directing the small child to stand. "A pretty name for a pretty girl. Would you like to come away with me, Mara?"

The mother started foreword, but was held in check by her husband. Aiden, for his part, glared impotently at the Emperor. "Mommy doesn't want me to go." Mara informed the man in front of her never looking away from the pale, gaunt face.

"Your mother will let you go," Palpatine reassured the little girl shooting a warning glare over the red-gold mop to her parents. When the child's uncertainty refused to dissipate, he knelt to bring himself to eye level with Mara and captured her small hands in his larger paws.

"So what do you say, Mara? Will you come away with me? Be my helping hand?"

The little girl, barely more than a toddler, scrunched her face as she considered the offer. For the first time since she approached the Emperor, Mara looked back at her mother. Naomi bit her lip to hold back the tears and nodded.

"Want to help . . ." Mara sighed. It sounded enough like an excuse that Palpatine tightened his grip on her hands in a farce of reassurance meant to keep her from escaping. The child's eyes went wide and she tried a little to pull her hands from the Emperor's grip. Palpatine held on firmly, refusing to relinquish his prize. Finally Mara sighed, bowing her head in acceptance of what she could not change. "Come with you," she assented.

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	2. Karrde

InsaneJediGirl - Thank you for taking time to review. My take on Mara's actions is that she has a strong connection to the Force and thus an intuitive understanding that 1) she has no choice but to go with Palpatine and 2) what is required of her to ensure her family's survival, namely the appearance of willing submission.

AN: That being said, I promised twice a week updates. Looks like Sunday and Wednesday are the days. Review people! I want to know what you think as this stuff comes out. It encourages me to write more (yes, this is not-so-subtle coersion)

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"Everyone wants off this rock," the young Emperor's Hand declared, her blaster never wavering from its aim. "Believe me, you're not the only ones."

Karrde quietly studied the mechanic not letting his face betray any concern about being on the wrong end of a small but extremely powerful blaster. "Then why haven't you left yet?" he asked keeping his voice calm and casual.

Mara made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. "You try living on a mechanic's salary and I won't sleep my way out of here. So we're back to the offer on the table. You take me and leave or," a feral smile crossed her face, "I let your fan club catch up with you." The smuggler boss no longer needed to strain his ears to pick up the angry din of the steadily approaching mob.

Neither did his crew. "Cap't, what says we take her up on it, hee?" Chin's nervous statement was echoed by the rest of the group, though no one dared stir toward the ship while their chief was still in danger. A loud crash indicated that the docking bay door was under siege and would not last long against the big-game racketeers and their irate clients.

Karrde didn't blink. "No arguments here, Chin. Alright, Jade, you've got yourself a ship."

A short nod of her head and Mara was already moving toward the ship, her blaster disappearing impossibly fast into some secret holster. "She's all ready to go," the confusing young woman reported. "Has been since the day after you landed. A real joy to work on. Most of the ships that land here are cross wired six ways from Coruscant."

The hanger bay door exploded inward while the _Wilde Karrde_ was still waking up. Karrde turned hefting his oversized hunting rifle only to have a precise shot beat him to the first target.

"Karrde!" Mara growled next to him, "This ship won't jump for me; get in there!" Her blaster had reappeared from wherever she tucked it and was blazing away with pinpoint accuracy. Still shooting, the multitalented woman tossed a comlink to Karrde, flashing him a peek at the matching 'link tucked in the neckline of her tunic.

Karrde stowed the small cylinder on his belt and left with only the slightest twinge of conscience for leaving a lone woman to fight off the horde.

The smuggling boss charged onto the bridge eliciting a flurry of reports that long practice allowed him to interpret and respond to in a tangle of call and answer.

"She'll dance like a Coruscant deb, Cap't," Chin sang from the helm.

"Put her through her paces, Chin," Karrde's answer was coming out of his mouth even as his attention diverted to the comm report.

"Still no response from control, Captain," Dankin's voice was laced with his perpetual worry.

"We're not asking permission, Dankin. We're leaving," Karrde reminded the jumpy crewer. "Who's on guns?"

"Faughn and Torve." The entire crew answered together.

Karrde smirked at himself. "Should have known. Aves, you're spotter for this. The last thing I need is retaliation 'cause we had trigger-happy rookies manning the quads. Shields?"

Aves responded, working the sensor grid. "All they've got is hand blasters, Karrde; we're not even down half a percent." He paused. "Looks like the party's getting rough out there."

"Show me." A few buttons and one of the displays scattered about the bridge began to show the docking bay. Mara stood her ground ten feet away from the lowered boarding ramp single shots ringing rapid-fire from her blaster to catch the approaching thugs with deadly precision. The small mountain of bodies surrounding her attempted to hold back their live companions and failed miserably. Karrde watched with interest for a few moments noting the clean kills worthy of any assassin.

"Aves, show me the landing bay." A view from inside the ship split the screen with the continuing footage of the firefight outside. "This should be an interesting show. Chin repulsors now and start pulling in the boarding ramp." Karrde tore the comlink from his belt and called into it, "Jade, we're leaving."

It was, as Karrde had promised, an interesting show. Never letting up her covering fire, Mara went from standing still facing the mob to a dead sprint toward the ship in just under half a second. When the rapidly rising ramp threatened to be more of a trip hazard than it was worth, she threw herself into a horizontal dive, clearing the threshold with inches to spare. Not about to belly flop onto unforgiving metal, Mara turned her dive into a shoulder roll coming up in a defensive crouch and squeezing two more deadly shots out before the loading bay doors closed with a decisive clang. Only then did Mara relax her stance breathing slowly if a little deeper than normal.

The silence on the bridge said it all. Karrde let himself and his crew be stunned for a few moments before calling them back to reality. "Chin, take us out. Any word from control, Dankin?"

"No, sir," the man at the comm station was still in shock.

"Then I'll head down and see if we don't have a new member of the family."

"Karrde," Aves called, eyeing the young woman in the loading bay with open wariness, "be sure you know what you're getting us into." The warning hung in the air demanding a comeback.

"We need her," Karrde responded simply. Aves knew the chief well enough to take the reassurance and turned back to his station, letting the tension waft away from the situation.

The landing bay door accepted Karrde's handprint and hissed open. Mara hadn't moved and certainly hadn't relaxed. Her hair fell in red-gold snarls about her thin angular face and even doing nothing her body held all the tension of a predator ready to pounce. Karrde approached as one might a strange animal on the outskirts of town.

"I could have left you behind."

Mara turned a piercing emerald gaze to the fringe boss. "But you didn't," she observed. Then after a pause that would have had a lesser man squirming she added, "And you wouldn't"

"Are you that trusting?" Karrde asked not believing for a second that she was.

A minute shrug. "Let's just say I'm good at knowing who to trust."

Not willing to let her hedging rob him of an opportunity, Karrde took a chance. "You trust me enough to work for me? I'm short a hand or two."

_Be my helping hand?_ As per her training Mara's face did not show the flash of pain on hearing the title. Her practical side told her she had precious few other options. Her more secretive self shied away from working with anyone at close quarters for long, lest she reveal things best forgotten. "I have no past," she warned.

"I'm asking about your future," Karrde replied.

Reassured, Mara nodded. "All right, Karrde. I'll come with you."

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	3. New Republic

AN: Hello? Anyone out there? The last chapter didn't garner any response, and I was kinda hoping you'd tell me if I do action scenes well or no. That being said, I promised another chapter on Wed. and it's Wed. Please review. puppy eyes

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"I'll be in the conference room with the others. Come on down when you've decided." Luke Skywalker, the man she had sworn to kill, turned and began heading for the door. Mara remained at the rail and contemplated the 90 degree turns her life seemed so fond of. The Emperor's Hand had destroyed the Emperor's storehouse. The neutral smuggler was contemplating a liaison with the New Republic. And Skywalker, her final target, was showing her his back while his old lightsaber rested in her palm.

The reasoned contours of the heirloom weapon bit into her palm as she fisted her hands. What was the point anyway? Others would always define her life for her and that life was a never ending series of missions. Mara struggled against the flow of time and causality that swept her into an unknown, unplanned, unwanted future.

Luke paused at the door and looked back sensing the maelstrom where the tide had turned in one solitary life. Mara stood framed against the setting sun, light streaming around and if he _looked_ through her. Her red hair flamed to iridescent life and the light caressed her figure as if each perfect curve was calling to be seen. He could feel the rip-tide of emotion becoming, sucking at his soul, demanding that he be swept away on a wave of memory. Quietly, Luke immersed himself in the raging flood.

Images slammed into him, filling and overflowing his mind, the chaos of a flood in the confines of thought.

Two faces glared at each other almost nose-to-nose. Between identical torsos twin lightsabers, blue and green, hissed and arced. Gritted teeth grimaced and blue eyes blazed equally balanced hatred. _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER._ Skywalker the enemy. Skywalker the heartless. But which was Skywalker? The cold one. The empty one.

Sky blue eyes were matched windows to vastly different souls. In one eye, the chill of hard vacuum. In its match were the clouds of personal struggle and sacrifice. Hard dominance warred with straining survival as the final demand beat against sudden sympathy. _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER._ The cold one must be destroyed.

Explosion! A shower of scintillating shards envelops the kind one to strike at his empty double. The cold one shrieks, the freezing call echoing from his hollow self. Two faces merge to one distracted enemy. _YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER._ Amen and done. The clone crumpled, downed by Skywalker's own lightsaber.

"Kneel before me." With a capricious disregard for time and context, the flow of memory roared over a cataract and threaded the needle of thought. C'Baoth beckoned in his madness, "I have foreseen it."

_I have foreseen it, my Hand._ In her mind, Mara knelt before the Emperor in a sincere recreation of the parody that killed C'Baoth. From her knees, she looked up into the eyes of the man she called "Master." She was larger than the three-year-old Palpatine had saved, but still she craned her neck to meet the Emperor's jaundiced eyes. _You serve me well, Mara Jade,_ the wizened old man crooned in her mind.

_Thank you, Master,_ she replied dropping her shields to the Emperor's probe. She trusted him, he wouldn't hurt her.

"Let's just say I'm good at knowing who to trust." The remembered words adopted a bitter tone as the betrayal by her guardian waved mockingly before her eyes. Trust was overrated and misplaced. Her life would be controlled anyway. Then again, Palpatine was dead; C'Baoth never had her, and Karrde was pushing her away under the guise of a job offer. Whom now would she serve?

Luke felt the panicked questions swirl again and reached out on instinct to calm them. Mara's shields were gossamer brushes against his consciousness that let much in and even more out. _You serve yourself,_ he whispered to the part of her that yearned for pride of place. He smoothed over self-doubts that her brash nature covered, but did not cure. Finding a quiet eddy in the flood of feelings, Luke pulled the spent and confused mind into the stillness of rational thought.

Mara took a deep breath and mentally stepped back to calmly look over Karrde's offer. Her past was over and whether she liked it or not, the New Republic was the future. She could be the smuggler's liaison. In fact, only she could be so. She served herself; she belonged to herself and she needed to stop looking for someone to order her around.

The pain in her hand made Mara look down to where she still held Skywalker's lightsaber in an iron fist. One of his last links to the past. Mara let a smile flit across her face. Farmboy was anything but subtle, but he needn't worry. Her past went up with Mount Tantis.

Luke smiled, sensing the shift toward calmer emotions and turned to go back to the reception he'd left. "Hang on a minute," Mara called. He watched over his shoulder as she sauntered to his side. The lingering pain was gone from her eyes and if she did not smile at him, at least she did not scowl. With predator grace she stalked over to him, stopping comfortably close to regard him with eyes that saw too much and revealed too little. "I'll come with you."

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	4. Luke

Saber Girl Leia - Thank you for the thoughtful review. The connections were meant to simply tie Mara's past together and possibley contribute to the feeling of being overwhelmed. Hope you like this chapter as well!

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"Mara, will you marry me?" The gentle hope in Skywalker's eyes was at odds with the deadly situation they found themselves in.

Mara Jade eyed the still rising water, her practical side putting a damper on the joy that threatened to incapacitate her. "You mean if we get out of here alive?"

Luke shook his head earnestly. "I mean regardless." Force he was serious. Then again, with death so close, they could not afford the games that people usually played. Anywhere else, with anyone else, she would have felt honor bound to make her man squirm while she "considered" his offer. But here, with Luke, she could not hesitate or be anything other than completely, terrifyingly honest.

"Yes. I will."

The vision, a gift of Knighthood bought at the price of the _Jade's Fire_, shifted and danced through past, present, and future weaving the weft and woof of the Force in a beautiful tapestry whose images were glimpsed only briefly.

"Mama! Mama!" a disheveled mop of strawberry blonde encroached on baby fat cheeks. Sparkling blue eyes glowed with the irrepressible joy of youth. "Did you see?" the ten year old imp with her face and Luke's eyes continued his breathless monologue while wrapping her waist in a welcoming hug. "Did you see me pilot the _Falcon_?" Mara's head snapped up at that to glare at her brother-in-law.

"Don't worry he was strapped in the whole way down," Han assured her. _In the copilot's seat,_ floated across his "public" mind where he allowed the Force-sensitives that surrounded him access to his thoughts.

"That's great!" she gushed as her son – Ben? – expected her to. "A few more years and you'll be shooting down Death Stars. Why don't you go tell your father the good news?"

The little boy took off at full tilt to tackle Luke as he made an entrance. Laughing, Luke swung the child over his head, letting the small hands wrap his neck and cover his cheeks with the sticky kisses of childhood. Two sets of shining blue eyes approached her, love reaching out to engulf her in pure familial bliss.

"But that's the future," Luke's breath caressed her cheek as the vision faded into the warmth of now. "This is the present."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "And as head of the Jedi Academy and brother of High Councilor Organa Solo you should at least put in an appearance at the ceremony?" she suggested wryly.

He grimaced, his disdain for official pomp and circumstance written all over his honest face. "Yes, that's just what I was going to say. I can see this is going to take some getting used to." She knew he was referring to their new level of intimacy. The bond they formed while fighting the battle droids had never returned to its former intensity and casual mind reading was a common occurrence now. A fact that on some level disturbed both of them.

Preparing herself for the worst, she retreated physically and mentally. "There's still time for you to back out," she offered knowing even as the words left her mouth that she was too deep in emotionally to make such a break.

Luke smiled at the offer, then wrapped her tightly in his arms and kissed her. The kiss was warm and giving, just like her farmboy. "Not a chance," he informed her. Having said his peace, Luke set his mug down, now bereft of chocolate, and prepared to once again leave her to her thoughts.

_Oh no you don't, farmboy,_ she thought at him. _You are not getting away from me that easily. Not now, not ever. _"Hang on a minute," she called gratified when Luke froze mid-step to look back at her. She hesitated a moment, still savoring the lingering traces of her vision before taking his arm possessively. "I'm coming with you."

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AN: This is a short chapter, I know, but I don't think it needs anything else, do you? Review! Next chapter is the last!


	5. Force

AN: Last Chapter. Yay! This is your official warning, there is character death in this chapter. so break out the tissues and be ready to bawl.

SylvanDryad - Thank you for the review. Maybe others will follow the lead (hint! hint!)

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He was dying. They both were. As Luke's strength waned, so did Mara's spirit.

"I've had a long life, beloved," Luke whispered stroking her cheek. His normally steady hand quaked with fever and fatigue as his failing body surrendered to the lassitude of impending death.

"And you'll have a longer one," Mara replied leaning into the unsteady caress before grabbing his hand to plant desperate kisses on the palm and wrist. She refused to let the tears pooling in her eyes slip out. She had to be strong for Luke. Luke was headed for a final adventure and he would need her at his back the whole way.

"Boring way to go," the aged Jedi Master quipped, his low chuckle strangled in a fit of choking coughs that left his hands speckled with blood. The end was near.

As hurriedly as she could, Mara helped her fragile husband sit up, rubbing soothing circles on his lean back with her free hand. The points of Luke's spine protruded as he hunched forward trying to relieve the pressure on his chest. She helped him bring a cup of water to his parched lips, washing away the crimson flecks that colored the grey pallor of his face.

"You'll heal," Mara insisted as her worry once again subsided until the next time. The fits were coming more often and it was getting harder and harder for Luke to breathe after they left, but she refused to believe that he wouldn't come through. He had to heal. He always had before.

"Strong am I in the Force, but not that strong," Luke quoted his dying Master to his wife, suddenly understanding the words himself. Eternity was calling and as much as he might want to, he did not have the strength to resist it.

"Don't do this to me, farmboy," Mara begged seeing dreamy acceptance of his situation float in the deep blue eyes. "You swore you'd never hurt me and this hurts."

"You're strong, Mara," Luke soothed. The statement was more lip movement and thought than breath as his lungs seized. Painstakingly, he forced them to relax and draw in the air needed for one final statement. "I love you."

The hand clutching hers tightened convulsively before the grip loosened. Mara watched impotently as the shades of death pulled their gauzy curtains over eyes that had always been crystal clear. His body went slack against hers, all muscle tone deserting the withered carcass that no longer needed to move.

"Luke," Mara pleaded settling the dead weight of her husband back onto the bed. But the call fell on deaf ears and the film over his eyes refused to lift. Her own eyes shed their covering tears as the reason for denying them vanished into the Force. Rivers of salty sorrow ran down her cheeks, gathered in the creases which age had bestowed on her face before dripping onto the unflinching visage of Luke Skywalker.

The full force of her grief slammed into Mara as she contemplated life without her soul mate. Clutching at his once strong chest, she buried her face in his shoulder and wept her pain. Luke was beyond motion or comfort, staring with sightless eyes at a world he no longer inhabited. What peace she might have drawn from his embrace was now beyond the realm of possibility. She was alone.

Her hands shook as she composed her husband's body, closing changeable blue eyes forever to mortal sight, caressing his face one last time. He looked so peaceful, the burden of years falling from shoulders that had supported the weight of the galaxy for decades and yet still found strength to shelter the Emperor's Hand.

Suddenly, Mara felt the pull on her mind where Luke had always been. It sang of safety and comfort. It beckoned her towards a blinding light that she somehow knew contained her husband. The siren's song of love and rest was too much for her to resist.

"Hang on a minute, Luke," Mara called kissing the final lingering warmth from unresponsive lips. "I'm coming with you."

In the council chamber, silence descended as the speaker's words died on his tongue. The Jedi's quiet reigned supreme for a few minutes before the Senior Council Member addressed him. "Master Skywalker?"

The younger Master shook his tousled strawberry blonde hair and drew a shuddering breath. Absent mindedly he worried at his lower lip, blinking rapidly in the fading daylight. Concerned, Jacen Solo tried again. "Ben? What is it?"

Master Ben Skywalker took a few calming breaths before opening his eyes. Silent tears swam in the watery depths of eyes he inherited from his father. His voice shook slightly as he made his announcement. "The last heroes of the New Republic are dead."

Master Jacen Solo bowed his head allowing quiet grief to wash over and through him, acknowledging and accepting the pain of loosing two whom he loved. "Go Ben," he instructed. "Be with your family. Mourn your parents."

The remaining Master Skywalker sketched a half-bow to the Council and left. He found his parents' final resting place and gathered up an artificial hand and two sets of robes, all which remained of the two greatest Jedi of their age.

**IN MEMORIAM  
****MARA JADE SKYWALKER  
****Loyal Servant  
****Trusted Friend  
****Loving Wife  
****Devoted Mother  
**_The Force will be with you, always._


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